o men in greater
repute than they, among the Athenians at least, nor who had been more
highly honoured. Thus it is not reasonable to suppose that by them a
shield should have been displayed for any such purpose. A shield was
displayed, however; that cannot be denied, for it was done: but as to
who it was who displayed it, I am not able to say more than this.

125. Now the family of Alcmaionidai was distinguished in Athens in the
earliest times also, and from the time of Alcmaion and of Megacles after
him they became very greatly distinguished. For first Alcmaion the son
of Megacles showed himself a helper of the Lydians from Sardis who came
from Croesus to the Oracle at Delphi, and assisted them with zeal; and
Croesus having heard from the Lydians who went to the Oracle that
this man did him service, sent for him to Sardis; and when he came, he
offered to give him a gift of as much gold as he could carry away at
once upon his own person. With a view to this gift, its nature being
such, Alcmaion made preparations and used appliances as follows:--he put
on a large tunic leaving a deep fold in the tunic to hang down in front,
and he draw on his feet the widest boots which he could find, and so
went to the treasury to which they conducted him. Then he fell upon a
heap of gold-dust, and first he packed in by the side of his legs so
much of the gold as his boots would contain, and then he filled the
whole fold of the tunic with the gold and sprinkled some of the gold
dust on the hair of his head and took some into his mouth, and having so
done he came forth out of the treasury, with difficulty dragging along
his boots and resembling anything in the world rather than a man; for
his mouth was stuffed full, and every part of him was swelled out: and
upon Croesus came laughter when he saw him, and he not only gave him all
that, but also presented him in addition with more not inferior in
value to that. Thus this house became exceedingly wealthy, and thus the
Alcmaion of whom I speak became a breeder of chariot-horses and won a
victory at Olympia..

126. Then in the next generation after this, Cleisthenes the despot of
Sikyon exalted the family, so that it became of much more note among
the Hellenes than it had been formerly. For Cleisthenes the son of
Arisonymos, the son of Myron, the son of Andreas, had a daughter whose
name was Agariste; and as to her he formed a desire to find out the best
man of all the Hellenes and to assig